JNS.org– Israel is one of the five developed countries where citizens pay the most money out of pocket for medical services and where private expenditure on health has increased the most over the last three years, according to a report issued by the Israeli Health Ministry this week.

The report compared health expenditures among the 34 developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report indicates that in Israel, 39 percent of health services payments come from private patients. The only countries where patients pay more are Chile (54 percent), the U.S. (52 percent), Mexico (49 percent), and South Korea (44 percent). The average among OECD countries is only 27 percent.

The bulk of the expenditure in Israel is for health insurance—82.9 percent of Israelis possess some form of private health insurance to complement state-provided health services, placing Israel third in the proportion of citizens who pay for private insurance. The OECD average is 36 percent.